prison today after two years behind bars. shane bauer and joshua fattal were handed over to a convoy of swiss diplomats this morning, capping a dramatic standoff between washington and tehran. we have more from our tehran bureau chief, watching this for two years now. ali, first of all, the bail. there were conditions set, $1 million in bail paid to iran. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. a million dollars in bail. their first case they were convicted. the lawyer told me the reason there was bail set was because they appealed the conviction, so it had gone to an appeals court, and the bail wasn't without confusion. the lawyer was ferrying back and forth from the courthouse over a period of four days trying to get a signature of a second judge who wouldn't show up for work because they kept saying he was on holiday. the lawyer got the call today finalize the bail, and everything started to move quickly from there. andr andrea? >> ali, this is the same scenario that a year ago you and

i were in tehran and sara shourd got out and bail was paid, and the flight to oman. this is oman brokering this. do we know who put up the money? >> reporter: we don't. as you know when you were here, it was difficult to get an answer. we knew the money was put up, but we didn't know by who. we knew that oman was -- nobody really raised their hands to putting up the money. what we do know is that the omanis have good relations with the united states and iran. it's always to their benefit to be the broker between two nations that have no relations. two very powerful nations. iran is a very powerful nation here, a big oil exporter. we know everything that america is capable of. this is beneficial to the omanis to broker a deal like this. >> indeed. and finally, clearly president ahmadinejad wanted this to happen last week. he told ann curry it would happen last week. then he gets to the united states, there is this holdup.

clearly factions within the regime there. he's going to be speaking at the u.n. tomorrow. is he weakened by this appearance that he really was not fully in control? >> reporter: he certainly was weakened, especially domestically here. all the papers laid into him here saying that he jumped the gun, and the judiciary here said, listen, it's not the president's decision. it's not the executive's sdwigz to make -- sector's decision, it's the judiciary. and president obama is working his diplomatic skills, trying to get the palestinian leadership to stop this head-long drive toward a controversial bid for u.n. recognition at least from it the perspective. richard haas, counsel for foreign relations. the republicans accuse him of not being strong enough against israel, yet he's meeting with

netanyahu today. and he is isolated. the u.s. is isolated from the rest of the world. >> the u.s. is isolated, and the palestinians have put themselves i think in an unfortunate place by essentially forcing this to the u.n. we're essentially -- no good can come from it. the administration essentially has said it will veto if the united states is forced to. but i think they're really hoping that the palestinians after they go ahead with this, you then have three to five weeks of administrative work that would have to take place. and that during that time, they could maybe get direct talks started. and then the palestinians would pull any initiative back from the u.n. >> richard, do you see any way that the palestinians can now back down from going to the city council, perhaps going to the general assembly given that they have taken this very strong position? >> it's tough. they've gone pretty far out on the proverbial limb. the only way they could back off would be if they got direct

talks started on terms that they could basically say we can live with this, and this shows we were right to threaten to go to the u.n. so i can imagine a diplomatic dance. not this week. i think they'll go ahead and put the papers in on friday as they said. but i can imagine this thing unwinding over the next month. >> i wanted to play a bit of what mitt romney has said today. this is following up on what rick perry said and also romney again yesterday, republican presidential candidates going after the president on this. this is romney today. >> you know, i think what the president did that was in error with regards to israel was begin dictating what he would do and saying, here, you should do this, you should do that. those discussions should be held behind closed doors. the president should not be negotiating for his ally, israel. the president should stand behind israel. >> it strikes me that if this were george w. bush at the united nations trying to broker a very delicate deal and democratic candidates were going after him, everyone would be

crying that this was, you know, unpatriotic. what do you think of the republican approach here? >> i don't think the republicans should be criticizing the president. in the narrow sense, because he's threatening to veto a resolution if the palestinians go ahead with this. i also don't think there should be threats from the congress or anywhere else to cut off aid to the palestinians. these are the palestinians we want to help. and the fact that they're growing economically is actually a good thing. i think it's fair to criticize the administration for some of the things it's said and done over the last 2 1/2 years. i think that's legitimate. look, andrea, you know, i know we're in the middle of campaign season. whether we're talking about taxes and jobs or we're talking about foreign policy, nothing is immune anymore. >> rick perry coming to new york and doing it only blocks away from the president. and accusing him of appeasement did seem to many at least as a step too far. let me ask you, though -- >> let me say we've come a long way where politics stopped at the water's edge. >> indeed we have.

the "washington post" reported today that there is an expanded drone program, secret drone program, bases in the horn of africa, going after possible targets in yemen, somalia, perhaps we even are trying to get into ethiopia with bases. what does this tell you about our counter-terror effort? >> i take it as good news, the fact that we're doing it. what you're essentially seeing is the united states has made this strategic decision that we can't do future things on the scale of iraq or afghanistan. that can't be the basis of our counter-terrorism program. instead, the things you're seeing here. whether it's special forces or drones, more narrow, targeted approaches. we may have to do this vis-a-vis fife, 10, 15 countries down the road. i think this is a realistic template for moving forward. >> richard haass, president of the council on foreign relations. thank you very much for being with us. and a former legal adviser to political negotiators and current fellow at the belfour center for international affairs at kennedy's school of

government joins us now here. diana, good to see you again. >> thank you. >> what are the chances, do you think, that after this meeting tonight, 6:00 tonight, the president meets with mahmoud abbas, that president abbas would step back and say, i get it, we're putting the u.s. in a difficult position and risking our own funding in congress from strong, you know, pro-israel supporters in congress? >> well, i think it depends on what is the alternative that's on the table. what was disheartening today with president obama's speech was that he didn't mention the basics of a settlement freeze which has been the one demand that the palestinian negotiators have been putting forward as the requirement to be able to relaunch talks. i think a lot of it depends on what it is that obama comes to the table with. if he's going to continue to reiterate the same formula, i don't think that there will be a backing down. if there's something new, different, maybe we'll see a general assembly resolution instead of a security council vote. >> do you fear -- you have

concern that the president is backing down from his previous tough position on israeli settlements because it's an election year or because of all the blow-back that he's experienced over that? >> yes. this is a president who marked his presidency by -- with his first phone duel president abbas made as the cornerstone of his middle east policy, a settlement freeze, even spoke out against home demolitions and quickly backed down from that. so it's disheartening that now in this election cycle that he seems to be moving away from this. if he wants to be able to move forward, that's going to be a basic requirement. >> at this stage, would accelerated negotiations with a date certain or some sort of deadline, fasttracking the talks, would that be enough to get the palestinians back to the table? >> i don't think. there are far more issues than simply a deadline or end date. particularly with the settlements. last month alone, there were over 5,000 new housing unit that the israelis approved for construction. there are now about half a million israeli settlers in the

west bank. >> benjamin netanyahu was speaking out about the process today. i guess in a meeting with the president -- with president obama. this is what he had to say. >> the attempt to shortcut this process, not negotiate a peace. that attempt to get a membership, state membership in the united nations will not succeed. i think the palestinians want to achieve a state with the international community, but they're not prepared yet to give peace to israel in return. >> the point being that you can have the security council if you were to win the votes and the white house thinks that they have a way of slow walking that process, frankly, or in the general assembly. certainly you've got the votes for the palestinians to be declared a state. but that isn't a state. you don't have borders. you don't have agreements on jerusalem. you don't really stop the settlement. what have you achieved? >> i agree, andrea. the issue that it achieves is that for the first time it

allows access to moving away from negotiations and from a negotiated process to perhaps going to international legal mechanisms such as the international criminal court to stop -- >> exactly what israel is afraid of. >> precisely. but if they're not committing war crime, they shouldn't be afraid of it. clearly with the fact the settlements have gone on for so long and are defined as war crimes, they should be august,fraid. >> do you have any concerns that barack obama of u.s. presence has been the strongest ally until this position that you now perceive. you're putting him in a terrible position with the rest of the world and politically, domestically. and you are risking a congressional vote which would cut off aid for security, which is important to both sides. >> i think if president obama really wants to move forward on this he would have followed through with the promises that he made throughout not only his election campaign but the first years of his presidency, including that was a settlement freeze and really pushing forward on that. he seemed to have backtracked quickly on this. and while it may put him in a

difficult position with congress, i don't think that there will be a showdown when it comes to funding. >> thank you very much for joining us. and pressure on pakistan. a critical partner in the fight against terror. can they be trusted? pakistan's foreign minister joining us here next. and still to come, pithy politics. twitter opens a new frontier in political advertising. send your thoughts on twitter, @mitchellreports. [ male announcer ] this is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lara who chose 2 aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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twitter is venturing beyond social networking, for the first time planning to sell political ads cashing in on a presidential campaign, expected to generate record-setting campaign buys. we have the chief of "politico"

joining us now. ken, this is a new frontier for twitter. >> that's right, yeah, andrea. twitter had resisted getting into this, and in fact, there were campaign finish legal questions about disclaimers. you know how when you see an ad on tv or in a newspaper, there's always this disclaimer on the bottom that says "paid for by" such and such a committee. there was some question with twitter and google ads about whether they could really fit that disclaimer on there given the short nature of twitter and google ad messages. the ftc has reached a compromise at least as it pertains to google. i wonder if that hasn't helped twitter proceed with the knowledge that they could do this running afoul of the disclaimer provisions. >> and how do you see it working? will they actually put in commercial messages? paid messages in your twitter feeds, and trending and -- how are they going to insert themselves into the political process? >> yeah, it's much like google, they're going to have a search

base function where if you search for a term or write a term that triggers this sort of algorithm that they have, it will bring up this ad. then there will be sponsored ads that will appear if you're following a given candidate. so there's sort of a number of ways there. the name of the game as with google ads is to reach folks who are interested and to target your advertising to folks who are persuadable but not folks who are already on board. and that's really the trick with all political advertising. >> do you see this as expanding the advertising base, or is twitter's involvement, engagement going to take away from other kind of more traditional campaign ads? >> well, we're already seeing something of a migration of political advertising from the traditional forms on television and in print to the web. however, it's substantially cheaper to advertise on line than it is on tv or in print. so it will be something to see how much twitter is able to get for these ads and how much

candidates spend on these ads, relative to television or radio advertising which is still regarded as the gold standard in reaching voters. >> with the disclosure issue, it seems to me it's another step blurring the lines between what we see, not knowing exactly what is an advertisement, what isn't an advertisement. it's going to be complicated as the campaign progresses. thank you, ken. >> thank you, andrea. and up next, pakistan's foreign minister joining us live from the united nations. plus, what one college president is doing to close the achievement gap for minority students. [ beep ing ] ♪ hush, little baby ♪ don't you cry ♪ soon the sun ♪ is going to shine ♪ [ male announcer ] toyota presents the prius family. ♪ walk if i want, talk if i want ♪ [ male announcer ] there's the original one... the bigger one... the smaller one... and the one that plugs in. they're all a little different,

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a great addition to my routine. [ female announcer ] one a day women's. tensions are rising between the and united states and pakistan over the attacks at the embassy in pakistan launched by a pakistani-based terror group. only the latest problem in what has become a troubled relationship. we have pakistan's foreign minister live at the united

nations today. minister, thank you very much for joining us. let's talk about the tensions which certainly hit a real breach after the bin laden killing and with some of the other incidents between the two countries. what about this criticism by the u.s. of the hakani network based in afghanistan and the involvement, the u.s. believes, in kabul? >> yes, thank you. you know, first of all, i think it is important to recognize that the relationship between pakistan and the u.s. is that was two allies. and i have no question in my mind that we do have a broad convergen convergence, and we are working for peace and stability within the region and pakistan. now there are, of course, leftovers of some other adventures which took place within this region in which also pakistan and the u.s. were

partners. pertaining to the specifics of some of the hard times that pakistan and the u.s. have been facing. the principle of unilateralism is something that pakistan has of course objected to because we consider ourselves to be worthy partners, to be able to share the responsibility, and to be able to have a common approach to be able to fight terrorism. and we feel that if each of us or either of us is to fight this on their own, we will go -- we are convinced that we need to foster this partnership for the common cause and for the common good. pertaining to the specific terrorist outfit that you have talked about, all terrorist which attack innocent civilians or major installations are against both of our interests. we have no qualms in saying that whatsoever. however, as i said before, we need a commonality of approach, both in terms of tactics and in terms of principles to be able

to tackle them effectively. our claim is that if pakistan instead of being recognized for the great sacrifices and the costs that it has paid for this war that we are fighting and that we are at the forefront of, then we -- if that is not recognized and instead it is started we will both lose out. >> and the united states has acknowledged that the -- horrible sacrifices that pakistan has endured, suffered at the hands of these terrorists. certainly your country has been besieged. but when you have the chairman of the joint chiefs only yesterday saying, "we covered the need, during meetings, for the haqqani network to desengage, specifically the need for the isi to disconnect from haqqani and from this pracy war that they're fighting. the isi has been doing this, working for, supporting proxies for an extended period of time. it is a strategy in the country, and i think that approach has to

shift in the future." is there a point on which your government would try to rein in the spy agency, the isi, which is so powerful and which the u.s. believes is connected to these terror groups? >> you see, you know, i'm sure you agree with me when i say the isi is no more or less powerful than the cia or certainly no more powerful than the cia. now if there is a constant encouragement into pakistan territory by militants who have been -- who have been shown the door from pakistan through an immigrant operation which cost us lives of our soldiers many times over, and there is a constant sea of incursions which come and kill men and women and children, there's not a cia -- your troops are present on the other side of the border. we chp them to take the same responsibility that's demanded of our troops. there are many different forces coming into play in the tlaj we are both in partnership with in trying to fight these elements.

we must be able to ensure that if there is indeed a serious evidence for such public recriminations to be made that evidence is shared with us. that we are considered to be worthy partners. and if that is not the case and i'm afraid we will both lose out. and i'm convinced of that. therefore, i look forward to, as i have before, i have a long engagement with the secretary of state. we had a 3 1/2-hour intensive, constructive meeting. i think if i were to take the jist out of it, it is that we have to work together more rather than separately. and we in pakistan have a huge problem, frankly speaking, with public statements which are coming in from this country which point fingers at pakistan which are completely unnecessary because our troops, our military which is considered to be hand in glove, is the one who has lost its soldiers. and through your program, i would like to tell your public that we have lost more soldiers than all of nato forces

combined. this is indeed something to fight together. if in the middle we want to create scapegoats because success as we perceived it may not be coming, then we will all lose out. we must recognize the situation as it exists. it's a difficult situation. and we must put our heads together to be able to deal with the situation. we have partnership, we have talks going on at every level. i have said to the secretary of state that my government under president zardari and the prime minister is committed to fight this scourge. the institutions of pakistan are committed to fight this scourge. we must be assisted. we must be helped to fight it rather than the political and public ownership that we have been able to build for this war. this democratic government of able to build for this war every time a pakistani was lost, a family member reads in the newspaper and finds that pakistan is part of the problem, not the solution. we need public ownership in every area where we are fighting

together. >> minister, thank you very much. i know you are trying to turn the page in this relationship as you begin these intensive talks that you've been holding with hillary clinton. thank you very much for joining us today. we have breaking news, shane bauer and joshua fattal have now left iran. the swiss ambassador confirms that the airplane carrying the two americans who were imprisoned in iran for more than two years has left tehran. we'll continue to follow the story as we learn more. they are heading to oman. ional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. you had me at "probiotic." somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america,

we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers.

my grocery bill isn't wasteful spending. my heart medication isn't some political game.

our retirement isn't a simple budget line item. i worked hard. i paid into my medicare. and i earned my social security. now, instead of cutting waste and loopholes, washington wants to cut our benefits. that wasn't the agreement. join the members of aarp and tell washington to stop cuts to our medicare and social security benefits. troy davis, accused of killing an off-duty policeman, is scheduled to die. it's the fourth time having been granted a stay each time. once only 90 minutes before he was to receive a lethal injection. now, time and options are indeed running out again. nbc has more from jackson, georgia. is there any possible of a legal

step at this time, tom? >> reporter: at this point, the defense team for troy davis has filed for several last-minute motions trying to have this execution halted. short of a legal miracle, there's a consensus, a feeling at this point that this execution is going to be moving forward as scheduled for 7:00 tonight. this case has caused an international uproar from the pope to former president jimmy carter saying there's too much doubt to move ahead with the execution. they point to the fact that seven of nine witnesses who testified against davis in the 1989 murder have recanted their statements or changed their statements significantly. the defense points to the fact that there's a lack of evidence that the murder weekend was never found. they say given all of that, is there enough doubt. they believe there is, that the execution should be halted. of course, there's the other side, the family of the officer

killed in 1989 while responding in trying to help a homeless man. they say this has been through the process, witnesses testified under oath in front of a jury. that this was the killer. they have been waiting for more than 20 years to see this go g through. they say it's time justice is served. they say they're not thirsty for blood, they're thirsty for justice. >> less than five hours to go. it seems just about 5 1/2 hours to go. thank you very much. is social security still the third rail of american politics? mitt romney apparently thinks so. his campaign has issued seven press releases in only the last nine days, slamming rick perry for calling the program a ponzi scheme. a line of attack that he continued in florida today. >> he said by any measure social security is a failure. i disagree. i think by the measure of tens of millions who rely on social security, it's a success.

i can't see anything which suggests it makes any sense whatsoever to end social security as a federal entitlement and send it back to the states. "national journal's" congressional korntd joins us. major, you write about social security and the politics of social security in the "national journal." you point out that the payroll tax cut proposed by the president would undermine the long-term funding solution for social security. >> that's right. it's the great unobserved debate going on. as rick perry and mitt romney talk about whether social security is a good or bad thing. there was a payroll cut that took $105 billion out of the tax revenue stream to fund social security benefits. yes, there is enacting legislation that says money has to be put in through general revenue. now there's a bigger payroll tax cut on the table.

it may or may not be funded. if you lower taxes to stimulate economic growth, create jobs, for whatever purpose, you are undermining the historic means by which social security is financed in the first place. there's a solvency issue for social security because fewer works are contributing for benefits to be paid out. that's one problem. you exacerbate the problem by reducing the amount of payroll tax run dedicated for future benefits. that is something that ought to be debated more aggressively, regardless if it's a ponzi scheme, phrases that gets bounced around. they're missing the substantive change that's going on before our very eyes. >> and one of the other points is while we've been focused on what's happening on the republican side, you're pointing out what the president's proposals would do. the other piece is that the president really has taken social security off the table along with the other

entitlements. unless there are the gentleman is correct changes that are agreed to. >> right, independents who care about social security, the president is there to protect social security, fine. that's a rhetorical device, it has policy behind it. he wants to protect social security, doesn't want to raise the eligibility age or cut benefits, okay, fine. but whether you finance social security through dedicated payroll taxes and propose cutting them even temporarily and say we're going to fill them with general revenue, social security becomes a program that has to compete for general revenue. when it competes for general revenue, it becomes like every other federal program. and social security would probably be the first recipient of general revenue because it's a sensitive political topic. that still doesn't alter the fact that you're changing financing and the political orientation in american life. that's a huge change, one that's happening, but most people aren't noticing. >> major garrett is, you're

noticing in the "national journal." thank you very much for bringing it to us today. and now to our sear eggs "education nation." and the achievement gap for minority students. one president of an historically black public university is really taking this on. florida a&m president james ammans has trimmed 24 underperforming programs and created 22 new ones with an emphasis on math, science, engineering, and health care. his next goal, to open a school of dentistry. his commitment to educating those most at risk was highlighted last night here in new york at the harlem children's zone. dr. ammans awarded $1 5,000 in -- $175,000 in scholarships to star students. he joins me now. congratulations for everything you're doing. it's great to meet you here. i'm a big fan of what the harlem children's zone is doing. you're really plugging in to grab their star students and give them new opportunities in florida. >> we are. florida a&m university has made its name on academic quality and

bringing the best and the brightest talent to tallahassee, florida. and we saw an opportunity to come here and to partner with the harlem children's zone. they're doing a marvelous job in terms of preparing students for careers and success and education. >> this is what you've been doing for so many years. you're trying to duplicate this at the college level to students. what is making the difference for your student at florida a&m? >> strong academic programs, dedicated, committed faculty, the tradition and history of the university. we're 124 years old and have made our name in having top students in rigorous programs. >> what's the niche that historically black colleges have? there's a wonderful tradition here, and it's sometimes

overlooked nationally. >> let me tell you about florida a&m university which i think has done a tremendous job over the years of bringing students to the university, creating an environment that is supportive, nurturing, and all of the faculty and staff that the institution worked to ensure that students are exposed through internship programs, research programs during the summer, connections with industry, connections with graduate and professional schools all across the country. >> have you been faced with state budget cuts and other fundraising cuts because of the terrible economic environment? >> we have. at florida a&m, we have lost about 1/3 of our budget. >> how do you make up for that? >> our state appropriation -- we cut 24 programs. unfortunately, we had to let about 159 staff go.

but what we have done is to focus like a laser beam on those programs especially science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health sciences, those are part of the brand of florida a & m university and will give us the opportunity to compete and win in attracting scholars, students and faculty, and extramural funding through grants and private investments. >> what are you finding in terms of the gap among the freshmen when they come in? how well prepared are they to meet the rigors of your program? >> this is an issue that is national, and we are finding that more and more students coming from high schools are having to have some type of courses that may not be exactly at the college level. what we did this year in the state of florida was to raise

the admission requirements. so with that raising of the requirement, we have a greater proportion of the freshman class who go straight in to college-level courses. but it is a national phenomenon that we'll have to we'll do in terms of college readiness for students coming out of high school. >> dr. james ammans, great to see you here. we'll be focusing intensively on this ourselves. like a laser beam, next we'll through "education nation" and our networks of nbc and msnbc. thank you very much for helping us to kick off today's conversation. >> thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to talk about florida a&m university. >> okay. we will keep track. and also today, kansas city, missouri, schools flunking out. the missouri board of education has revoked accreditation for the entire kansas city school district after it failed for several years in a row it meet state standards. if that district does not improve in the next two years, the city's schools could face a state takeover. the school board president says the ruling will not affect seniors applying to college.

it's hard to imagine how it wouldn't. and better late than never. a 99-year-old word war two veteran has finally received his high school diploma. george heriger dropped out of school in the 10th grade to join up when world war ii broke out. he hopes his story will inspire students to stay in school. congratulations to him. the showdown over palestinian statehood at the united nations, former u.s. ambassador to israel joining us next. yeah, i'm married. does it matter? you'd do that for me? really? yeah, i'd like that. who are you talking to? uh, it's jake from state farm. sounds like a really good deal. jake from state farm at three in the morning. who is this? it's jake from state farm. what are you wearing, jake from state farm? [ jake ] uh... khakis. she sounds hideous. well she's a guy, so... [ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state.

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sharpton live in georgia. also, we are waiting to see the first images of shane bauer and joshua fattal since their release from prison this morning in iran. they could arrive in oman within the hour. we'll bring the latest to you. plus, is google too powerful? at the top of the hour, google's ceo will testify at a hearing on capitol hill, examining that question. all that and more next on "news nation." they still disagree about settlement and borders and a lot of things. today president obama and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu stood together against the rest of the world. a united front against the palestinian bid for statehood at the united nations. >> the bonds between the united states and israel are unbreakable. >> standing your ground, taking this position of principle which is also, i think, the right position to achieve peace, i think this is a badge of honor. and i want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor. >> former u.s. ambassador to israel, martin nindek, is

director of the foreign policy policy program at the brookings institution and joins us now. we know that they are not close friends. their last meeting was, in fact, pretty much a diplomatic disaster. but this is a situation where the president has really no choice now stand with israel. it does create huge problems with him given the rest of the world, the arab spring, all of the trends and the support, the strong emotional support and political support here at the u.n. for the palestinians. >> it's -- it's a terrible irony that the president who so much wanted to be on the right side of arab history finds himself now positioning the united states on the wrong side of arab history which is now so focused on supporting the idea of an independent palestinian state becoming a member, full member of the united nations. and it is of course ironic that it was the president himself who opened the door to that in his

speech one year ago to the u.n. general assembly, but now it is determined to block the door because of an understanding that the only way to achieve that is through negotiations which so far haven't produced that outcome. i think last year he expected that a year from now he'd have -- he'd be able to announce that the negotiations had reached an agreement on this. but the negotiations protect down almost before they started just one month after the speech. and now he's in a situation where he has to defend the correct proposition that this problem can only be resolved not through declarations but through negotiations. and so that's where he finds himself now, embraced by netanyahu who gave him a lecture in the oval office which i'm sure the president didn't appreciate the last time they met. one has to wonders the logic of the palestinians' move here

because it is in effect driving the president into the arms of the israeli prime minister which is help exactly where he intended to be at this moment. >> it seems like everyone is in the wrong place at the wrong time. perhaps this is the history of the middle east. you know it so well. we've been watching also live pictures on part of the screen of the secretary general's annual luncheon for the general assembly members. and we saw i think pictures of the president with mahmoud abbas. looks like mr. abbas is from the rear, what i can see, he is going to be meeting with him tonight. is there anything that he can say to abbas that would back the palestinians down now that they've put themselves in this box? >> well, i think that it's a complicated situation in which the leader of the palestinians is trying to avoid a confrontation with the united states. the decision by him to appeal to the security council for recognition of palestinian membership in the u.n. rather

than to go to the u.n. general assembly was in fact helpful to the united states. we have a lot more influence because we willed a veto in the security council than we do in the council where there's an automatic majority of at least 120 states that would support the proposition there. and so it seems that he will give the speech on friday, will get a standing ovation, of course, in the general assembly. but he'll leave, and the security council will be left with procedural action to basically avoid a confrontation there that would require the united states to cast a veto at least this point. so we get through this week without the major least. so we get through without the may know blow-up. the question is in his discussions today, can create an environment and ground rules for a negotiation that will give greater confidence in the

negotiating process. create the terms of reference tomorrow negotiation and give a greater chance for negotiations to succeed. >> one could hope. no sign yet of that kind of a future path. we hope. thank you so very much. what political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? ♪ i like dat, all right [ male announcer ] mio. a revolutionary water enhancer. add a little...or a lot. for a drink that's just the way you like it. make it yours. make it mio. you might think all these cost about the same... protect about the same... but what if you have an accident? allstate accident forgiveness starts the day you sign up. these guys might make you wait a couple of years. we can't wait a couple years. [ babbles ] no you cannot. thanks. don't mention it. [ dennis ] shop less. get more. make one call to an allstate agent. [ female announcer ] call allstate now and you'll also get a free lifetime membership

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we're centurylink... we're committed to improving lives and linking americans to what matters most with honest, personal service ... 5-year price-lock guarantees ... consistently fast speeds ... and more ways to customize your technology. which political story will make headline in the next 24 hours? chris cillizza joins us. we're talking florida. the candidates are all there or heading there. i can't let you go even though we don't have much time without saying, what was michele bachmann thinking in iowa on her way to florida, i guess? the meat locker? >> when i saw that, i saw kay henderson, a rotter in iowa. it said bachmann does event in

meat locker. that was the headline. i thought that must be a metaphor. no, no, she was in a meat locker. you can see it there now. you can go two ways. the symbolism of michele bachmann as dead meat or you can go, michele bachmann as rocky. which is i think the one her campaign would prefer. out there punching some dead meat, warming up for the debate tomorrow night. obviously we spend too much time thinking about these things. >> so florida, critical. we know from our friend tim russert, florida has always been important. more so this year perhaps than any year. especially with social security being so much a pampt debate. >> a debate and then a straw poll within 72 hours. this will help us figure out who t the favorite is going into the primary season. >> not the dead meat. that does it for us. tomorrow on the show, congresswoman debbie wasserman

schultz, the democratic chair woman. remember to follow the show online and on twitter. my colleague has a look at what's next. in our next hour, troy davis' family is expense his final hour with him. tonight at 7:00 eastern. in one hour, the final preparations for davis' life will begin. the reverend al sharpton will join me live from georgia. plus, we are waiting to see the first images of the two american hike here's have just been freed from prison in iran. they are set to arrive in oman within the hour. the family has released a new statement. also the showdown in congress over disaster relief money that's threatening to shut down the government. news nation is minutes away. my employees are like family. and, i want people that work for me to feel that they're sharing in my success. we purchase as much as we can on the american express open gold card. so we can accumulate as many points as possible. i pass on these points to my employees to go on trips with their families.

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executed for the murder of a police officer. the georgia pardons board just rejected a last-minute appeal to halt the execution. also, breaking right now. new video of the convoy that escorted shane bauer and josh fattal from a tehran prison just a few hours ago. i'm tamron hall. the american hikers have spent the last two years of their flifs an iranian prison. they were freed today after a $1 million bail was accepted. right now they are on a plane headed to oman where they will land in minutes. perhaps nbc's michelle kosinski is on the phone. she is in oman for us. we just got a statement from family members who are there on the scene. and obviously they expressed their gratitude to the sultan of oman and the attorneys that helped get to this point. >> reporter: they called this the best day of their lives. they said joy and release they feel knowing these two are finally